


Changing realities

by Letters_run_away



Category: Ghost (Sweden Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, F/M, Ghouls, Kissing, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Science Fiction, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-21
Updated: 2018-09-30
Packaged: 2019-07-15 07:03:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16057982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Letters_run_away/pseuds/Letters_run_away
Summary: What happens when a slow, gloomy day leads Catherine to befriend an unusual scientist.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The updates will be slow on this, sorry in advance.

It's a dull evening nothing much happens during hours like these in a suburban residential area. Most people gather around a TV and watch a movie trying to pretend to be the perfect nuclear family. But so much movie binge watching can do for a lonely empty heart.

In a house without a family, living alone TV is just another distraction from the dark, crippling reality that threatens to sneak in every time Catherine gets a free day from work.

Working in retail is its own hell, but it keeps the mind quiet, the inner demons don't have a chance to escape, though they always lurk in the background, their fingers ready to pull in anyone who gets close.

  
Her attention draws back to the television, it's showing another science fiction movie of a future that was supposed to be, yet now it's the dreams of the past.

The phone is silent, just as dead as everything around her, at moments like these it feels like the whole world forgot about her existence, or maybe it stopped altogether.

In this eerily calm evening when the sun finally hid away, and now her face is only illuminated by the silver Hollywood dream, a future everyone was trying to predict, it looks so familiar, yet it carries its dated charm. The ideals and morals still kind of fit, it's like an alternate reality of some mad man's dream.

Art Deco style ships were floating gracefully through space like it was a part of it and not a human-made object created to infiltrate and live inside like a metal filling in a human body that replaces some lost part of it. Though these spaceships had their name; they were artificial silver stars the brave souls who dare to try and be independent and created their towns maybe conquer space even further, and those who agreed to unite their cities were called silver star clusters.

When you take over the galaxy, nothing seems out of the reach or impossible. The vast, cold, beautiful but deadly mistress called space now belonged to the human race.

As the grandfather clock strikes midnight the movie rolls to an unclear, open-ended, conclusion.

Now there are no distractions, and Catherine is left staring at the blank screen. She sluggishly stands up and makes her way to the bathroom.

It's small and now has an unnerving resemblance to the sleeping cabins in the ship. A small space dedicated only to one tiny, yet necessary task.

After that follows her precise nighttime routine, just one of the many things that help her to keep grounded in reality.

Sleep doesn't come easy, it never does. She turns on the fan, Korean superstition be damned, spending time in the dark while the minutes drip away, turning into hours; finally, exhaustion lulls her to a deep slumber.

Morning doesn't bring much; Catherine’s head is still in the clouds making the tired, slow dawn look surreal. Laying in bed, it feels like she is one of the ships. Wasting time away till someone calls her into action.

She grabs her quiet phone and starts browsing the web. Nothing of interest, news are the same and still depressing making it feels like the temperature in the room has dropped.

Somehow she stumbled on to a place where people share science facts and what seem to be rituals. The first, newest articles seem to be far-fetched, poorly constructed ideas talking about time travelling and how to achieve it. But Cat kept scrolling and started to notice that at the bottom of articles a person was talking about something else that didn't seem to relate to the original posts. Looking into it more, Catherine noticed a pattern that under every 3rd link or photo, there was a comment from them.

Lazily lying in bed as the time was softly, slowly passing by as Catharine gathered what she could from the person named "Lotus".

They were telling an incredibly detailed story about what they called "person who died with the memories of the future" a time traveller who didn't realise what she got herself into and time just ate at her till there was nothing left.

Intrigued Catherine jolted down a quick message to the creator of the posts asking if they have ever published a book because she would love a copy.

The clock was showing nine and clouds were making their way someplace else. She quickly dressed up and went to make coffee. The phone stayed quiet the only noise in the house was the boiling kettle trying to make his presence known by releasing steam and making noise.

The phone comes alive in her hands- it's a message from Lotus.

"Good morning Midnight Cat,  
I'm glad my story intrigued you, but I'm sorry to disappoint by informing you that I'm not a writer, actually I'm a scientist.  
I see you're new here, what attracted you to this site and my comments?  
Best regards,  
Lotus"

She stopped for a moment, looking at the screen such detailed descriptions, but not a writer; well he evidently missed his calling.

The message she threw back at him was short and casual, explaining that she was just bored and was looking for something to read.

The messages flew back and forth both of them just like the months did. It all was like a big wave sweeping over her schedule getting into every nook and cranny; now even her job didn't feel so dull, every free minute was spent in the forum waiting for a response from lotus. He never swayed from the formal style of writing, but he also didn't mind her casual approach to the conversation.

On a moody day much like the one, they first started to message on; she gets a good morning text from Lotus and an invitation to get coffee together. From their countless messages, she knew he lived and worked close they even shared selfies and random pictures of surroundings, his always looking organised and unnaturally clean, but that comes with working in a lab. Either everything is in their place, or something is bound to get lost.

But never have they met or even talked about meeting so getting a message like that out of the blue was not something Catherine expected, but she gladly accepted the offer because this meant meeting what now she considered a close friend.  
At first, they decide on a small cafe close to both of them, but then Lotus or as she found out through the messages - James couldn't make it, but he offered for her to come to his lab and get take out.

Cat took this opportunity to throw a few jabs at how shady this all is, but James assured her there were other co-workers in the lab.

She exited out with an umbrella in one hand, and Chinese takeout in other the rain was pouring down as if it was trying to wash away all the memories and make this meeting a clean slate to create something better.

As she entered the lab, it felt like any bits of natural or organic, alive organisms where pushed out and destroyed by the sheer opening of the door, gone the smell of wet asphalt or the calming sounds of rain, now replaced by the humming of the AC and odour of chlorine.

She closed her umbrella put it in the dedicated stand as she lifted her eyes to look around time stopped, here stood James; the man from her phone is real and smiling at her. Catherine's heart skipped a beat as she approached him "hello there, James,” she said timidly, cogs in her head still trying to shift all of this in place.

"Good day Catherine I'm so sorry we couldn't meet in the coffee shop and-” His eyes were giving her a once glance over as they land on the bag with styrophome containers "Oh! You brought take out! Thank you, you didn't have to."

"It was no problem, to get to your lab I need to go pass two take out places. It was convenient, and I thought you're probably hard at work because you couldn't come to the cafe, so warm food should do you good."

He seemed genuinely happy to see that Cat appears to care about him and urged her to follow him to the break room where they could talk and eat in peace.

With time and chattering from James, the lab started to become more welcoming and less alien-like.

Time has washed away with the drops of rain that were softly knocking on the window. One conversation led to another, and we surfed our way to the start point - the mystery person, time travelling extraordinaire.

James stayed vague about it telling Cat that he might have or have not made a device that helps alternative realities come together close enough that the traveller can switch from one dimension to the next. Though there arises a problem, only the mind crosses through and slithers its way into the travellers' alternative dimension body shutting down his conscience and replacing with its own. So that leaves the scientist controlling the experiment with a body in a coma in dimension A and a brain in a coma in dimension B.

The ladder is more comfortable to conceal because of it not being a tangible thing as we see it, it's more akin to a file we zip up and store somewhere away on the computer, in this instance our brain, for later use.

The body causes the biggest of problems because it needs to be taken to the hospital and given proper care, there is also the problem of relatives pulling the plug on the body and leaving the traveller, he stops his rambling and looks at the pristine white walls "I don't know what happens then..."

Catherine was still trying her best to peal bit by bit his barriers and find out more about why he didn’t bring the information to more scientists who could help him.

The answer she got was delivered with all the previous joy now drained out of his voice and with flakes of fear creeping in. "I don't want anyone to know, I don't want the military to find out, I don't like when the future is foggy, and with them involved, it definitely would be, they will find out, when I die, we all will someday, won't we? Humanity will not kill itself in 40 or so years so it can wait."

Catherine started to joke that she would make the perfect experimental rabbit for him as her family close has long been gone and she lives alone.

After that it was time for her to leave and for James to go back to work that didn't stop their communication about the experiment though. Catherine sat in a nearby cafe they were supposed to initially meet at and intensively, somewhat aggressively threw messages back and forth with James.

The world around her was also buzzing; the customers frantically went inside and out through the cafe door as rush hour was hitting full force, even the constant rain didn't seem to deter them. Surrounded in a cacophony of chatter and people going about their day she decided to partake in the experiment, it was a somewhat spontaneous decision, but at that point, it felt like she had nothing to lose, she didn't particularly like her job, and no one was waiting for her at home.

She made a mental apology to all her co-workers, but the message was already sent she won't turn back now; Catherine sat back and watched as people just like time rushed pass as the last hour was approaching.

She made her way back to the laboratory as it was almost closing time, no more customers, but scientists could still stay if they pleased.

She was once again greeted by now more solemn looking James.

"Are you sure?" the question hung in the air as they made their way down a long, narrow corridor to the last door on the right.

"I'm not pulling out at the last minute; don't be afraid, I have nothing to lose."

The air in the small room felt heavy full of today's decisions they feel like lead weighing over their heads, one wrong move and everything is over.

James says his goodbyes and wishes her the best of luck as she is put into an eerily calm sleep by the medicine he administrated with an explanation of “you won't be as scared."


	2. Chapter 2

The first thing that jumped out at her was the size of the room. It wasn't the small laboratory she was in a spacious room. Looking around there was a few empty beds and tables, but besides that, there was not a lot of furniture a few chairs and a table by the window. The ceiling decorated with stylised stars and planets, not a lot of organic forms everything had lines of gold and silver going through them.

  
Bed dug into her spine announcing it‘s unwelcome presence, making Catherine roll out of it and try and stand up. It seems like gravity was not a fan of the idea and the second the legs hit the floor and she tried to stand up she wabbled and sat down on the uncomfortable bed, soon the silence was disturbed by a door opening and someone looking like hospital staff coming in.

  
„Hello, I'm nurse Florentine, how are you feeling?"

Catherine stared at the figure in front of her and tried to say something but the first attempt failed as the mouth felt sluggish. She stopped and tried again this time slower.

"I'm good, nothing hurts."

"What's the most recent event you can remember?" she asked with a smile making her way to the bed.

  
Ideas raced thought Catherine's head, giving a truthful answer of 'making a deal with my scientist friend to travel to an alternate dimension' would undoubtedly land her in the mental ward. She needed a plan, quickly kicking herself mentally in the head for not thinking this through entirely she makes up the best lie she can.

  
„I was talking to a friend...?" she says uncertainty.

  
„And nothing more?"

  
„No?... Did something happen? How I got here?" she tried to sound as clueless as possible.

  
"You passed out, and your friend transmitted you here."

  
_'Transmitted_ like a radio wave? Here? As in a hospital? Why, how,'It feels like with every answer she gets four questions that follow it.

  
"My buddy... Where is he?" Catherine was hoping to all above that the strange companion was another version James that could clue her into what is happening and how should she return this change of realities with every flying minute is becoming less and less of a favourable idea.

  
'Why she even agreed in the first place? Why her stupid brain wanted adventure so much it trusted an interesting _friend_ from the internet.'

  
Nothing changes no matter the time or the place; there are no friends no family she is not even sure she has her job here.

  
Before Catherine drowned herself in concepts and way, too many questions nurse interrupted her thoughts.

  
"We're not required to know where a person is if they are not a patient in this facility, my offer to you is to try and stand up and take few steps with me so we can see how bad that fall was"

  
Cat took the nurses hand and tried to stand up again the second attempt being more successful than the first. With every small action, it seems to be easier to move around, and in a minute or so Catherine was walking on her own exploring the gigantic room.

  
As the nurse cleared her throat to say something another presence greeted the room.

  
Before Cat could even turn, she could hear the nurse ushering a quick 'hello' and 'I'll return later with medication'.

  
To say Catherine was surprised seeing this person would be an understatement. The man stood close to the door with a slight smile. He had onyx black hair that where messily slicked back, miss-matched eyes one ghostly pale and the other could put most precious jewels to shame. His face was painted to resemble a stylised skull.

  
"You might want to collect your jaw, it's rolling on the ground," the man in skull paint said giving a warm chuckle.

  
'A relaxed posture, warm kind speech, he must be a friend... Maybe it's the man that got me to here in the first place.'

  
She decided to take a risk.

  
"Thank you for getting me to the hospital..."

  
She said drawing her attention back to the wall and the intricate designs painted on it, predictable but fitting as the ceiling was painted to represent space with dying stars spinning around planets. So the walls had what seem to be heavenly bodies healing a sick female by removing her soul.

  
"... What do you mean getting you to the hospital? I didn't... Am Carl and I are that similar?..." The room temperature dropped by a few degrees.

  
Fuck, a clean miss.

  
"No... No, it's not that, I don't remember who brought me here, and because you manifested here from thin air I was left to assume."

  
Older man swiftly walked across the room like he owned it and grabbed Catherine's hands, holding them in his he looked her in the eyes.

  
"Just last evening we were talking, and I told you I have meetings the upcoming day. My sweet ghuleh how much did you forget?"

  
Cat stood still, a deer caught in upcoming traffics headlights, too many questions too little answers.

  
"I...I... I don't even know your name" it came out as a soft, broken whisper. Catherine tried to remove and distance herself; she couldn't brace to look into his eyes because of the fear of what she will see there.

  
He didn't let go of her hands, just squeezed them harder and said.

  
"I'm not giving up on you this easily, the doctors found nothing in the CT scans, but just in case another one will come soon to check on you, but in the meantime, let us sit down, shall we?" 

  
Cat follows him to the uncomfortable bed as realisation jumps at her. 

  
"Wait... if they went through all that hell to make sure my brain is okay shouldn't a doctor came to evaluate me first? Is the system different in this weird town?" 

  
"...In this weird town?" 

  
Cold silence invaded the gigantic room Catherine started to squirm she needs to think before talking now she is lost between two roads one of telling the man of the experiment the other pretending the blow was that bad. But the decision was ripped out of her hands as a doctor entered the room with a swift 'good day'. 

  
The onyx haired gentleman stood up from the bed Catherine was still staring at the ground like it was the most fascinating thing in the room, she heard whispers of the two talking. 

  
"My sweet ghuleh, I'll be back in the evening, please be good till then." The worrying tone is soon replaced by the melancholic sound of walking that was becoming less and less audible. 

  
"Miss, I will give you a simple game to complete, okay?"


	3. Chapter 3

The doctor was stone-faced, yet Catherine could see he was beyond perplexed.

At first, she got a stack of cards; they were straightforward paper ones with minimalistic shapes on them, and one instruction group them.  
Taking a glimpse at the cards Cat decided to group them by the number of shapes that are on the card.

She placed the first card showing three green squares. Then tried to set three blue ovals but the doctor interrupted her by saying it was incorrect and she should try something else. So she put the ellipses to the side, then pulled another well-loved card that had two green squares on it and wanted to place it on the previous square card this time the doctor said nothing so she must have been correct.  
Taking another long look at the square cards, she took the deck and pulled out one with one green triangle and placed on top of the squares and waited yet doctor said nothing yet again, the only thing heard in the room was the rhythmic breathing of both of them and a car flying by once in a while.  
She took that as an approval she quickly grouped the rest of the cards by colours. With no more comments from the doctor. After the exercise, he thanked her and collected the cards.

After that followed a rather straightforward Q&A. He started with the simple question;

"What are you wearing on your feet?"

Cat looked down and then back to the doctor.

"Slippers, why?" An approving hum followed the sentence.

"What are you sitting on?"

"Bed"

"What is this?" He pointed at the nightstand

"A nightstand for placing stuff on"

The questions started coming in rapid succession when finally he asked

"What year is it?"

Cat opened her mouth and closed it again she was seconds from saying 2018, but that's the year she came from...

Catherine looked around then back at the doctor then again at the gigantic painting on the wall.

"I... Don't know."

"Then maybe what time of year it is?"

She didn't stand up from the bed but turned her head to the window. There was a view of a bustling city with no snow or greenery could be seen.

"... Summer?" She asked unsure herself.

The doctor stood up and thanked her for answering his questions and that Papa will be back with her shortly.

Cat absentmindedly nodded her head and thanked the doctor. She has left once again in the midst of silence. Walking back to the window she observed the non-dying town; the room didn't have a clock so knowing specific time was out of the question but by how many people seem to be leaving offices and walking in the streets of the strange city, she assumed it was an end day rush hour.

"Beautiful?" A cheery voice came as the door opened.

The gentleman in black was back, the paint on his face not as fresh as before, but he still looked devilishly handsome. The bottom lip was turning a pale shade of grey, and the top now was duller black.

'Cat get a grip on yourself, you don't know this man, why are you drooling over him like a piece of cake in a bakery shop' she had to shake herself mentality not to start drooling, and the man seems to have noticed it, smirk playing on his lips.

"I talked with the doctors, and they want to keep you here overnight or even a few more days."

The distressed expression Cat made told papa everything he needed to know.

"But if you don't want to, they agreed to check you out of the hospital as long as you have someone looking over you, may it be me or any of the ghouls."

She looked around at the gigantic room with empty beds and high ceilings, she won't get any answers here, and yet leaving this place seemed like a bad idea as well, but if she will have a companion to help her, how bad can it be?

The man made his way across the room and stood before Catherine; he seemed exhausted but genuinely happy.

"They said you're suffering from short-term memory loss, so a guide is needed because no one knows how much you remember how much you forgot"

He took Catherine's hand and kissed it softly;

"My name is Papa Emeritus the third, and we originally met in a lab, but if you don't remember the full details, maybe it's for the better. We have been together for five beautiful years, but I'm ready to fight for your heart again." Winking at the end.

Cat blushes and a small giggle escapes her lips; Papa already charmed her, no need to fight for it.

"Yes, sadly I can't remember, but the meeting couldn't have been that bad, it's not like you faceplanted in front of me or anything, also what are ghouls?"

Now its papa the one who is chucking the warm tone of his voice contrasting the cold atmosphere of the room.

"Yes, no way that could have happened... And you'll see who ghouls are soon enough, look at them as helpers that you had a hand in creating."  
They stood for a moment exploring each other eyes trying to find what secrets they hold.

Papa touched Catherine's cheek with one of his hands and leaned in whispering;

"May I?"

She nodded her head and closed her eyes.

The kiss started as a gentle touch of lips and quickly grew into a hungry explosion of feeling like a new star being born. The kiss tastes of a constellation a constant exploration for the scenes like the man was made from out of space.

When their lips finally parted for air, Catherine opened her eyes and looked up at III. His lips now grey and patchy and eyes are sparking with new life.

"It's only been a day, yet I already missed your kisses" he took out a handkerchief and cleaned Cats lips ", but for now let's go home, the car is awaiting us."

Emeritus leads her out with an arm around her waist the sizeable empty room is replaced by a long narrow corridor a stark contrast to the space she has been stuck in, unnatural cleanliness, small gold stripes lining the walls inforcing symmetry.  
Walls are empty and pale the only decorations being moving holographic paintings hunged on the wall with meticulous precision; they advertise everything from vitamins to countdown to new vaccine season.  
One advert, in particular, caught her eye it was a stylised painting showing scientist working in 1 to 4th level microbiology labs their coats and suits had the same emblem Papa had but simplified. The slogan read 'Meliora against disease. Join our Nobel prize-winning scientist team and help study bacterial outbreaks and make the old one proud!'

  
Emeritus followed her gaze to the advertisement;

  
"I'm sad to inform you, but till further notice, you're off work. I need to keep an eye on you and can't have you stressing over those tiny plates."

  
"You mean a Petri dishes? And well maybe it's for the better that I don't return just now, heh."

  
'I don't even know what I been working on.'

  
III chuckled and led Catherine on the long corridor to the door that leads into a small room that looked like a decontamination chamber they stood in the middle while slowly green mist started to invade the place.


End file.
